IMPD investigates 150th criminal homicide, ties record set last year

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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Detectives with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department are investigating the 150th criminal homicide of the year after a man was fatally shot on the city’s northeast side Monday morning.

The shooting happened at an apartment complex around 12:30 a.m. just off Emerson Road in the 5300 block of Butler Terrace

Officers found the man suffering from a gunshot wound inside one of the apartments. Emergency responders pronounced him dead at the scene.

The victim was identified as Walter Benyon, 25. The Marion County Coroner’s office ruled he died of multiple gunshot wounds.

“Im not sure if it was his mom or whoever, but she was just crying, she was hysterical saying why did they kill my son? Why did they kill my son? And that’s really hard, that is really hard,” Neighbor Shaniece Mitchell said.

Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett who just last week took responsibility for the levels of violence the past 2 years reacted to the news of the city’s latest homicide, calling it “heartbreaking.”

“Its heartbreaking, at the same time its maddening that the city over the last seven years has experienced each year a rise in the level of homicides,” he said.

Hogsett says he hopes new initiatives, like the new community based crime prevention program he unveiled last week, can lead to a less violent 2018.

“While 2017 has been a difficult year as were the seven years proceeding it, I do profoundly hope that 2018 will be different,” he said.

At this point in the investigation, detectives are unsure of the possible motive or suspect(s) information. Anyone with information should call the IMPD Homicide Branch at 317-327-3475 or Crime Stoppers of Central Indiana at 317-262-TIPS.